Sea Sponge Extract Conquers Resistant Bacteria
Science News – 14 Mar 09
Science News has an article on research into a compound found in a particular kind of sea sponge that seems to have the ability to restore antibiotics' effectiveness against resistant bacteria. The hope is that, since the compound is not itself deadly or even harmful to bacteria, it may skew the antibiotic-bacteria arms race in our favor. "Chemical analyses of the sponge's chemical defense factory pointed to a compound called algeferin. Biofilms, communities of bacteria notoriously resistant to antibiotics, dissolved when treated with fragments of the algeferin molecule. And new biofilms did not form. So far, the algeferin offshoot has, in the lab, successfully treated bacteria that cause whooping cough, ear infections, septicemia and food poisoning. The compound also works on... [MRSA] infections, which wreak havoc in hospitals. 'We have yet to find one that doesn't work,' says [one of the researchers]."
Sponge’s secret weapon restores antibiotics’ power
Bacteria treated with compound lose their resistance
March
14th, 2009; Vol.175 #6 (p. 16)
Ineffective antibiotics become lethal once again for bacteria treated with the
sponge compound, chemist Peter Moeller reported February 13 at the American
Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.
“The potential is outstanding. This could revolutionize our approach to
thinking about how infections are treated,” comments Carolyn Sotka of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Oceans and Human Health
Initiative in
Everything living in the ocean survives in a microbial soup, under constant
bombardment from bacterial assaults. Researchers led by Moeller, of Hollings
Marine Laboratory in
Chemical analyses of the sponge’s chemical defense factory pointed to a
compound called ageliferin. Biofilms, communities of bacteria notoriously
resistant to antibiotics, dissolved when treated with fragments of the
ageliferin molecule. And new biofilms did not form.
So far, the ageliferin offshoot has, in the lab, successfully resensitized
bacteria that cause whooping cough, ear infections, septicemia and food
poisoning. The compound also works on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which
causes horrible infections in wounded soldiers, and MRSA infections, which
wreak havoc in hospitals. “We have yet to find one that doesn’t work,” says
Moeller.
And the results may not just apply to bacteria in communities. The compound is
able to reprogram antibiotic-resistant bacteria that don’t form biofilms. When
bacteria are treated with the compound, antibiotics that usually have no effect
are once again lethal. This substance may be the first one that can eliminate
bacteria's resistance, Moeller says. “This resensitization is brand new.”
And the problem of perpetuating a bacterial-resistance arms race, in which
bacteria rapidly develop countermeasures against new antibiotics, may be
avoided entirely with the new compound. “Since the substance is nontoxic to the
bacterium, it’s not throwing up any red flags,” says Moeller.
Other than “doing something really funky that we’re excited about,” researchers
don’t yet know how this compound interferes with bacterial resistance to
antibiotics, says Moeller. The compound may sneak by bacteria’s sensors that
trigger new ways to combat antibiotics. Bacteria continually treated with this
compound for three months are still susceptible to antibiotics.
The research is still in very early phases.
“Everyone would like to see this in antibiotic trials tomorrow,” Moeller says,
but treatments for human infections are a long way off.
Sotka agrees. “Of course, we need clinical trials to take it to the next
level,” she says.
